Emotionally Intelligent Marketing: An Introduction to Love-Based Copywriting

Conscious small business owners: Ever feel like writing authentically for your biz is such a struggle? You want to share your brand’s soul with prospective clients and customers who are aligned with what you have to offer…AND you want to convert those prospects and create a thriving business.

Good news – heart-centered selling is not an oxymoron!

There is a way to communicate your offer to your audience without experiencing that icky “salesy” feeling or being out of integrity with your values.

Marketing and copywriting is no longer an ol’ boy’s club full of sleaze and fear-based selling tactics.

There’s a paradigm of writing for your brand that interweaves authenticity and empathy with powerful verbiage, benefits, and calls to action. Say hello to love-based copywriting.

What is Love-Based Copywriting?

The term love-based copywriting was coined by copywriter and marketing consultant Michele Pariza Wacek (PW) to describe a heart-centered paradigm of writing for businesses.

The key to love-based copy, aka heart-centered copy, is to focus on the highest good for all involved. For conscious entrepreneurs, that means taking what you already practice in terms of heart-centeredness and emotional intelligence and putting your money where your mouth is by consistently writing this way for your biz, too.

The essence of love-based copywriting is about imbuing your marketing messages with genuine empathy for your audience. While traditional copywriting has been known to use negative emotional triggers to leverage prospects’ fears, love-based copywriting shifts the paradigm by refusing to exploit readers’ insecurities and worries.

Instead, love-based copy seeks to deeply understand your audience’s vulnerabilities and communicate empathetically and in a heart-centered way to offer a real, lasting solution (which is what you’re selling!).

Rather than lean into the vibration of fear to lead readers toward a purchase, love-based copywriting acknowledges readers’ problems but meets them with the essence of love rather than exploitation.

Before we talk more about the nuances of love-based copy, let’s briefly head back to the basics to pinpoint what copywriting is.

Copywriting 101 Refresher

Copywriting is the written marketing messaging of a brand. Good copy is persuasive and “motivate[s] people to take some form of action, such as make a purchase, click on a link, donate to a cause, or schedule a consultation.” 3

Essentially, copywriting is any written material for your brand that asks or leads your audience to do something after reading. Each action taken is a step closer to converting an interested audience member into a loyal customer or client.

The key to copywriting, besides good writing, is psychology. You must get inside your readers’ heads as you craft your copy, sensing what they’re feeling and why they’re looking to buy. As prospects read your copy, they’ll be naturally guided to your calls to action, which lead them to sign up, make a purchase, etc.

What about content writing?

Content writing also falls under the copywriting umbrella. Content writing is less promotional and more informative or entertaining – it doesn’t have to have the persuasive nuances that copywriting does. For instance, most social media posts are technically content rather than copy. However, for the general purposes of this blog post, we’ll lump content writing in with copywriting because you ultimately want your content to have a love-based tone, too.

What are the differences between Love-Based and Regular Copywriting?

Unlike regular copywriting, which capitalizes on persuasion above all else, love-based copywriting emphasizes meaningful connections and building trust with your audience while showcasing your unique solution.

Michele PW says that love-based copywriting, “rather than using [emotional] triggers to make people feel fear, shame, guilt or create a false sense of urgency (which is what fear-based copywriting does), create[s] a buying environment that attracts and invites your ideal, perfect clients to say YES to moving forward with you.” 2(p.23)

Here are a few ways that love-based copywriting stands apart from traditional copywriting methods:

Empathetic Messaging vs. Fear-Based Tactics

Regular copywriting often relies on fear-based tactics to drive action. It may use fear of missing out (FOMO) or fear of failure to encourage people to buy a product or service. In contrast, love-based copywriting speaks to your reader's aspirations, desires, and dreams, aiming to inspire and uplift rather than manipulate through fear.

Authenticity vs. Hype

Love-based copywriting is, above all, authentic. When writing love-based copy, honesty and transparency are key. Forget the hype and save the hyperbole for another day – love-based copy cuts through the BS and meets your prospects with kindness where they are, right at the heart of their vulnerabilities and problems. From there, love-based copy creates genuine, lasting relationships versus just generating conversions.

Relationship Building vs. Transactional Approach

Regular copywriting often has a transactional approach, with the primary goal of making a sale. Love-based copywriting, on the other hand, prioritizes building real, lasting relationships.

Michele PW states, “When you’re selling via love, it’s so important to come from a place of love and abundance, knowing that everything will work out as it should…and that everyone is being served at the highest level.” 2(p.76)

That means that you aren’t attached to landing every single sale. You trust that your copy will attract people who deeply resonate with your words, values, and offerings. Folks who aren’t in flow with your vibe aren't meant for your biz at this time, and that’s totally okay!

Why should you use Love-Based Copywriting?

Compared to traditional copywriting, love-based copywriting offers a more compassionate and emotionally intelligent approach that can create a lasting impact on your audience and business.

By appealing to positive emotions and prioritizing the well-being of your audience, the love-based copy paradigm can lead to more meaningful and long-lasting connections that grow into authentic relationships.

As we move into the Age of Aquarius, a time when we’re called to prioritize love for one another and our Earth, there’s no paradigm as crucial as a love-based one, especially regarding the words you’re using to communicate for your conscious business. Love-based copywriting offers an approach that allows us to move into the future in both a pragmatic and compassionate way, honoring ourselves, our businesses, and those who we seek to serve. 🤍

Let me know what you think of love-based copywriting below, and share this post with a heart-centered entrepreneur friend (you can use the social and copy/paste links below).

♡︎ B

References:

1. Pariza Wacek, Michele. “But Does Love-Based Copywriting Actually Work? See for Yourself.” Business, Writing, Love, 15 Feb. 2020, www.lovebasedbiz.com/2018/05/30/but-does-love-based-copy-work/.

2. Pariza Wacek, Michele. Love-Based Copywriting Books: Volume 1 & 2. Love-Based Publishing , 2020.

3. “What Is Copywriting?” American Writers & Artists Institute, www.awai.com/what-is-copywriting/.